Japanese collectors get different (better?) Batman: Arkham City statue

Special Edition figurine gussied up with colored paint for Asian market

Whether you're a Western gaming geek or a Japanese otaku, chances are good that when you're eagerly awaiting a game, you want to know what kind of added doodads will come bundled into the box for the special edition. Pretty, perfunctory tchotchkes: the universal language! The Japanese version of Batman: Arkham City, it turns out, will come with a statuette of the game's protagonist, just like the American and European ones– but this one's different enough to reaffirm your suspicions that life's just a little more colorful over there.

The Japanese “original color variant” is basically the US/EU version of the statue in different paint, though sharp-eyed viewers will be able to play “spot the difference” in the fine details. Is this some sort of clever metaphor about Western technology languishing in the monochromatic past while Japan is where even the figurines are in full-color HD? Can we discern anything about which region has worse sensory ADD based on whom Warner Bros. wants to sell full-color figurines to? Or is this just an arbitrary way of making everyone feel a bit more special?

In any case, the Japanese edition will come with postcards, a booklet and unspecified DLC, just like the other versions, and it launches in November, a month after the US and European editions.